Today we’re aking a look at the new Beelink ME Mini, a compact mini PC designed to function as a small home NAS. It supports up to six NVMe drives, features dual 2.5G networking with link aggregation, and offers a silent, compact form factor — all ideal traits for a flexible DIY NAS.
Here’s my video review of the Beelink ME Mini, read on for the written review;
Where To Buy The ME Mini?
- Beelink ME Mini (Amazon) – Buy Here
- Beelink ME Mini (Beelink’s Store) – Buy Here
- 2TB Crucial P3 Plus – Buy Here
Tools & Equipment Used:
Unboxing the Beelink ME Mini
Inside the box, you’ll find:
- The Beelink ME Mini itself, wrapped for protection
- An HDMI cable
- A power cable
- A user manual
Like most mini PCs, it does not include an Ethernet cable, so you’ll need to provide your own.
First Impressions and Design
The ME Mini is impressively compact, measuring just 99mm square. It has ventilation holes on the top, bottom, and two sides.
This version is white, but it’s also available in grey and a blue-green color called Peacock Blue.
Front I/O
- USB 3.2 Type-C port
- Power indicator LED
- Power button
- Sleep indicator LED
- USB 3.2 Type-A port
Rear I/O
- AC power input
- USB 2.0 port (mouse/keyboard; can be set to always-on)
- Dual 2.5G Ethernet ports
- HDMI port
The two sides are reserved for ventilation only.
To access the internals, you’ll need to remove four screws on the bottom. These screws are initially covered with sticky plugs — a slightly odd choice for a device that’s meant to be user-accessible for drive upgrades.
Internal Layout and NVMe Support
With the cover removed, you’ll find a large central heatsink with drive slots on either side. The internal layout is thoughtfully designed:
- Supports up to six M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSDs
- Five slots use a single PCIe lane
- One slot uses two PCIe lanes, intended for the OS
- Thermal pads are preinstalled, making drive installation very straightforward
A 2TB Crucial P3 Plus drive was preinstalled in this model, and Beelink has partnered with Crucial for this lineup — a welcome change from generic SSDs often found in budget systems.
Why the 4TB Limit?
Official specs list a maximum supported capacity of 4TB per drive, likely due to:
- Power or thermal limits
- Heatsink contact only on one side, while larger 8TB drives are often double-sided
That said, 8TB may still work — just with reduced cooling and potential risk.
Power and Cooling
The rear of the heatsink houses a 45W built-in power supply — no external brick required. It takes a direct mains cable and is rated at 12V, 3.75A.
This heatsink cools:
- The CPU
- The power supply
- All NVMe drives
A single fan blows downward across the heatsink, with air exiting through the bottom and side vents. The heatsink has a machined contact face to improve thermal transfer from the CPU.
CPU, RAM, and Connectivity
The ME Mini is powered by Intel’s new N150 CPU:
- 4 Efficiency cores
- Up to 3.6GHz
- 6W TDP
- Slightly faster than the popular N100
Memory and Storage
- 12GB LPDDR5 RAM at 4800MHz (soldered, not upgradeable)
- 64GB eMMC storage (also non-upgradeable)
Connectivity
- Dual 2.5G Ethernet ports
- WiFi 6
- Bluetooth 5.2
Software and Use Cases
The ME Mini ships with Windows 11, but since it’s geared toward NAS use, I installed TrueNAS for testing.
It’s a flexible platform that could also be used for:
- Unraid (home NAS)
- Kodi, Plex, or Jellyfin (media center)
- Proxmox (homelab/virtualization)
- Note: The 12GB RAM might limit heavier virtualisation tasks.
OS Flexibility
You can install your OS on either:
- The eMMC storage, ideal for lightweight systems like Unraid
- The 2-lane NVMe slot, for faster OS performance under Windows/Linux
This gives you flexibility based on how you want to allocate your storage.
Storage Testing: NVMe Performance
I installed a second 2TB P3 Plus SSD to test both the single-lane and dual-lane NVMe ports.
Drive Setup
Two separate storage pools were created in TrueNAS:
- One on the dual-lane slot
- One on a single-lane slot
File Transfer Benchmarks
- 1GB file test: ~260MB/s write, ~245MB/s read
- 16GB & 64GB files: Similar results
- Real-world test with 46GB video file:
- ~280MB/s both to and from NAS on both slots
The performance across both slots was identical, as expected, due to the 2.5G Ethernet bottleneck. The internal PCIe lane speed doesn’t become a factor here.
Thermals and Noise
Even under stress testing:
- CPU temps stayed below 55°C
- Fan noise was negligible
- Silent at idle (around 35db)
- Barely audible at full load, only noticeable within 20cm (around 36db)
The case gets warm, but not hot — impressive for a fan-cooled, passively compact system.
Power Consumption
With two NVMe drives installed:
- Idle: ~8W
- Write load: ~12W
- Max CPU load: ~15W
This is very power-efficient, especially for 24/7 operation.
Pricing and Value
- Base version (no storage): $209
- 2TB version: $329
- 4TB version: $429
Note: The drive upgrades aren’t discounted — it costs about the same as adding your own Crucial P3 Plus. But the base $209 model offers fantastic value for its features.
Who Is the Beelink ME Mini For?
This is a great option if you’re looking for a:
- Quiet, energy-efficient NAS
- Flexible platform with OS choice
- Media server or file backup system
- Device to run Docker containers, light Proxmox VMs, or home services
You can start with a single SSD and scale up to 6 drives.
Limitations
It’s not designed for:
- Hot-swappable drives
- Hardware RAID
- 10G networking
- PCIe expansion
So it’s not for high-demand enterprise environments. But at $209, it beats most DIY NAS options, including my own Raspberry Pi NAS build from last year, and with significantly more performance.
Final Thoughts
The Beelink ME Mini is a compact, silent, and power-efficient mini PC that delivers everything you need for a budget-friendly DIY NAS. With support for six NVMe drives, dual 2.5G networking, flexible OS options, and surprisingly solid performance, it’s a well-rounded package for home users looking to build their own storage solution without the noise, bulk, or high cost of traditional NAS systems.
The ME Mini punches well above its weight for home NAS use, it’s:
- Tiny
- Efficient
- Silent
- Affordable
- And thoughtfully designed for DIY upgrades and flexibility
Let me know in the comment section below what you think of the ME Mini or if there’s anything else you’d like to see tested!